World Water Council programme

 

Background and origin of the programme

 

Local Authorities are critical to the enabling of local actions to provide water services and access to water supply and sanitation. This demands that institutional, financial, technical and professional capacities of local authorities be clearly defined, developed and strengthened. The lack of capacity is considered as one of the main constraints for development and management of water services. The need for strengthening and empowerment of local stakeholders has been a key message in the 4th World Water Forum 2006, Africities 2006, and in the UN-Human Development Report 2006.

However, the effectiveness of many capacity building efforts is often questioned especially since they are often supply oriented. A better insight is necessary in what facilitates effective strengthening of local authorities.

Moreover, strong local governments are not always in the interest of central government agencies, who need often to develop their own strength first. As a consequence the implementation of decentralisation policies is not always done wholeheartedly especially if it concerns financial delegation. A lack of local human and financial capacity to develop and really implement strengthening programmes and the wrong perception that training is all that strengthening requires are other common constraining factors. Also, within organizations there is usually an internal resistance to introduce new competencies, procedures, accountability and transparency measures.

The main question to be addressed in this programme is: “What needs to be done to facilitate effective strengthening of local authorities to better develop and manage water resources and services in a decentralisation context?” and what role the World Water Council can have, as compared to the programmes already in place.

 

 

Aim, scope and objectives

 

The aim of the programme is to stimulate national governments to start and strengthen initiatives that develop capacities of the local authorities (municipalities, district and provincial governments in rural and urban areas) for development and management of water and water services through facilitating dialogues between national and local governments, user groups, local and international financiers, capacity building institutions and civil society.

 

Specific objectives are to:

  • Identify ongoing initiatives and create interlinkages between existing programmes;
  • Provide an overview of processes and experiences in decentralisation of water services and its associated capacity development;
  • Faiclitate dialogues between local and national governments. It will allow to identify the main constraints (political, financial and institutional) and their possible solutions for local governments to initiate and stimulate local action in the field of development and management of water resources and services;
  • Prepare proposals for scaling-up of such local strengthening actions and present them in regional preparatory meetings and during the 5th World Water Forum itself.

The programme will be undertaken on a regional basis starting with Africa as a priority target. This programme will beside its own actions, also include and integrate activities related to the WWC programmes on Financing, Right to Water and Monitoring that each in its own terms also expressed the need for special attention for Local Authorities and Africa. MENA, Latin America and Asia will also be addressed also in the context of the other programmes.

This programme will be a key component of the political process in the preparation of the 5th World Water Forum. It will be part of the institutionalization of the political dialogue that the WWC intends to stimulate between local, national and international polities in order to promote good water governance.

 

Activities

 

  1. Mapping.

    • Identify what actions and programmes are under development and implementation focusing on the strengthening of local authorities to manage their water resources and services. Methods and indicators to measure their effectiveness and impacts will be developed. This activity will also help to identify partners that will be associated to the monitoring of the programme.

    • Provide an overview of the different roles and responsibilities of local authorities in development and management of water resources and services in a decentralisation context. This overview will primarily focus on the sharing of responsibilities between Local Authorities, Central Governments, service providers and users (associations).
  2. Dialogues to identify strengthening needs and develop action plans.

    • In selected cases initiate and facilitate local dialogues among local government, central government, service providers, and users and between different cities and towns in order to try to identify water related capacity problems in particular local authorities are facing.

    • Develop these dialogues further for developing local water services action plans in rural and urban areas also to be used as strengthening exercises and planning pilots. They may comprise localizing MDGs, integrating water in local development plans etc. These pilots can be used as national and international reference for strengthening of local authorities.
  3. Website interlinking strengthening initiatives. Active information campaigns and information/experience sharing using a dedicated website will support these actions. The website will allow an interlinking of ongoing and new initiatives on strengthening local authorities and provides access to these programmes and their experiences for local governments and other institutions interested in the issue.

  4. World Water Forum inputs. The process can become part of the local preparation actions for the 5th World Water Forum and can be presented and shared through a session during the forum. It will also be part of the input into the political process especially the dialogue between central and local governments. 

 

Expected outputs

  • An overview of activities on strengthening local authorities on a dedicated website linked to the water monitoring alliance. This website will allow retrieval and exchange of information on the ongoing and planned initiatives explaining approaches, materials used, key success factors and key challenges;
  • An overview of the various roles of local authorities in developing and managing local water resources and services and their role in basin management;
  • A set of guidelines and recommendations addressed to specific actors to facilitate the strengthening of local authorities. Interaction between local, central governments, parliamentarians and donors will be organized during the 5th Forum in order to stimulate initiatives and commitments to implement recommendations;
  • A session on this issue during the 5th and 6th World Water Forums;
  • A set of bankable action plans to enhance water services management in selected municipalities and districts.